Open enrollment trends to watch in the upcoming employee benefits enrollment season

Employees may move fast, default often and want benefits guidance. The six trends presented here — and what to do about them — are intended to help employers improve enrollment decisions, reduce confusion and strengthen the perceived value of their total rewards.
Open enrollment is a high-impact Human Resources (HR) moment: a short window where employees make complex tradeoffs that help shape satisfaction, utilization, and total rewards ROI for the year. Recent consumer and employer research^{1, 2, 3} suggests a consistent pattern heading into this season — employees want faster, simpler information; more decision support; and clearer ties between benefits and financial well-being.

At a glance

• Employees spend very little time reviewing benefits materials — so clarity and convenience matter.¹
• Confidence rises when employers pair digital decision tools with human support. ¹
• Financial anxiety is shaping benefit priorities, with growing demand for guidance and benefits that can help support financial stability. ²
• Voluntary benefits continue to influence attraction/retention, but employees may still struggle to evaluate options. ³
• Employees are actively looking to “get more value” from workplace benefits like retirement contributions and Health Spending Accounts (HSAs), yet many aren’t maximizing their contributions, company matches or their full HSA fund limits. ³

Trend 1: Employees are spending less than 30 minutes on open enrollment — design for speed

Most benefits-eligible employees spend under 30 minutes reviewing open enrollment information, and many spend far less.¹ If the experience isn’t designed for speed, employees are more likely to default to last year’s elections — regardless of fit.

Trend 2: “Personalized guidance” is now table stakes — employees want decision support plus 1:1 help

Employees report higher confidence when they have decision-support tools and an easy way to ask questions.¹ For HR, the winning model is a guided digital experience with a clear escalation path to human help.

Trend 3: Expect “inertia” in core medical choices — employees often keep last year’s plan

Even when plans change, many employees keep last year’s medical election.³ Inertia is predictable, especially when switching feels risky or time-consuming, so HR needs explicit prompts and clear comparisons to drive active decisions.

Trend 4: Financial stability is driving benefits engagement, and employees want help connecting the dots

Employees are weighing benefits against broader financial pressure: many plan to spend more time reviewing elections, yet many still don’t understand non-health benefits.² HR leaders can increase engagement by connecting health coverage, HSAs and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), retirement and voluntary benefits into one coherent “financial protection” opportunity story.

Trend 5: Voluntary benefits remain a talent lever, but employees still need help choosing

Voluntary benefits still support attraction and retention, but employees often struggle to evaluate options.³ HR can reduce choice overload by translating products into scenarios, costs and “who it’s for.”

Trend 6: Employees want to maximize retirement and HSA value, but many aren’t taking action

Employees say they want more value from retirement benefits (especially employer match) and HSAs.³ Employers can use open enrollment to encourage small actions that have impact potential, like a 1% contribution increase or a match-first goal.³

What employers can do 

For HR leaders, the goal isn’t to “communicate more” — it’s to make benefits decisions easier. These six moves focus on the moments that drive outcomes: speed to understand changes, guided support when employees get stuck, clearer cost tradeoffs and targeted nudges that offer value potential across medical insurance, voluntary benefits, retirement options and HSAs.

1. Design for speed. Lead with what changed from previous enrollment + what employees must decide; use a one page plan grid and mobile-first “how to choose” flow.
2. Provide guided decision support + human backup. Add life event routing (new dependent, ongoing meds, surgery) and publish clear paths to help (office hours/chat/1:1) early — not just at deadline.
3. Make cost tradeoffs obvious. Show total cost (payroll + expected out-of-pocket) and 2–3 common scenarios (low/medium/high use) so employees can compare options quickly.
4. Counteract defaulting. Use triggers that force a review (dependents/health needs/prescriptions changed) and translate network/deductible/copay changes into “here’s what it means for you.”
5. Simplify voluntary benefits choices. Reduce options using informative tiers/“most common picks,” and explain each product via a scenario: when it pays, what it covers and how it can complement medical coverage.
6. Nudge retirement/HSA action inside enrollment. Make the next step small (+1% or match-first), prefill suggested contributions where possible, and send nudges at launch (not only at the end).

Open enrollment outcomes aren’t driven by how many benefits you offer. They’re driven by how easy you make it for employees to decide what will work best for their needs. For HR leaders, the goal this season is to reduce friction (speed + clarity), increase confidence (guided tools + support) and translate “benefits” into a clear financial protection opportunity employees can act on. If you design the experience for real behavior — short attention, high defaulting and high need for guidance — you’ll have an opportunity to see higher engagement now and stronger perceived value in total rewards all year.

Consider how you can apply these insights to your next enrollment season. 

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